Proverbs 6:5
The scripture for today is Proverbs 6:5
Proverbs 6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
In Proverbs 6, a warning is given about becoming surety for the debts of others, whether friend or stranger. Ignoring this scriptural instruction has led many into heartache and some into financial ruin. We are never enabling good character and sound judgment in another by becoming responsible for their debts and bad decisions. While on the surface it may appear that we are being gracious and kind, in fact, we are acting in an irresponsible way when we enter into such an arrangement.
Out text today instructs us, if we have entered into such an agreement, to do all that is in our power to get out of it. If you have been ensnared, exert all of the strength that you can muster to free yourself from the snare of surety. While it may appear that we are “lending a hand” we have contributed to the irresponsibility of a friend. They will not have to shoulder the responsibility of their actions, that responsibility has now been transferred to another. That is not helping them, it is teaching them to be irresponsible.
We are instructed to help our neighbor in times of need and indeed we should do all that we can to help those in need, but becoming responsible for their debt is warned against. We are to give that which we have to assist others in times of need, not pledge that which we do not have so that another can go into debt. The whole system of debt and surety was created by creditors to enrich themselves at the expense of others. We are told, in scripture, to avoid it, and if we have been ensnared by it to free ourselves from it. We should always follow the directions of scripture and not the ways of the world.
God bless you as you continue in His service.
Tim